Looking After Their Own
by Asellas
Summary: The Turks always look after their own. Always.
1. Addition

**Looking After Their Own **

By: Asellas

Notes/Disclaimers: I don't own anything FF7 related. I only wish I did. I do, however, own Rucien and Talla. They are characters spawned from my mind in the wee early hours of the morning when I should be sleeping...

Rated for rough language and violence later on.

* * *

One of the many ShinRa helicopters set down ever so gently onto the helipad at the ShinRa headquarters in Midgar. Blue-white streaks of lightning lit the storm-darkened sky, followed by claps of thunder so loud and violent they seemed to shake the whole city itself. Only one person, clad in a heavy black trench coat with a black umbrella, was present for the landing. A side door was slid open and only one person emerged, wearing a pristine navy suit. He limped along, aided by a black cane, and stopped before the man with the umbrella. He shook his head silently, the sunglasses obscuring his eyes. The man with the umbrella nodded solemnly before turning to the monolith of ShinRa headquarters.

* * *

Reno made his way to his desk grumbling, complaining about the weather, the lack of caffeine in the cafeteria, and just about anything else he could think of. He tossed his raincoat onto the coat rack that he never knew was in there till today and fell onto his swivel chair.

"I fucking hate coming into work on stormy days," he whined. Rude merely grunted in reply. "The rain always makes me sleepy," he continued, this time Rude made no sound whatsoever but the scratching of his pen on his paper. Reno sighed and pulled a jar of sharpened pencils from the edge of his desk closer to him, and then began his usual game of seeing how many he could get stuck in the ceiling.

Before he could get three in, Rude closed his folder and walked over to stand before Reno's desk, holding the folder out to him.

"Take that to Tseng for me, I've got too much other paperwork to take it myself right now," he asked.

"Ch, I aint no fucking errand-boy yo," Reno told him, but Rude didn't budge or say anything, just kept standing there holding out the folder. Reno glared at him, but he knew the bigger man would not move, so he snatched it out of his hand, swirling out of his chair and stalking out of the office. On his way to Tseng's office, he plotted at what he could do get revenge on his long-time partner. Maybe he could slip something into his coffee this time…

Tseng's office was dark and silent, the usual signs of Tseng having not come in yet. Reno scratched his head and looked at the clock on the wall. It was ten-thirty. Tseng was _never_ this late to work. Not even on those nights where all the Turks went out and drank themselves into unconsciousness and most of them didn't trudge on into the office till after noon half-sick with hangovers. He slid the folder under the door and headed back to Rude's and his office, wondering if he should stop by Hojo's lab to see what mischief and mayhem he could cause today…

* * *

It was half an hour to lunch when Elena politely knocked on their office door and came in, a bundle of folders clutched to her chest as was most common in the offices, looking decidedly worried.

"What is it 'Laney," asked Reno, who was now up to ten pencils stuck in the ceiling. Rude looked up, carefully setting his pen beside his half-done paperwork.

"Have either of you seen Tseng this morning," she asked, shifting from foot to foot nervously.

"Mmm, Nope. Wasn't there when I last had to give him papers from Rude," Reno told her, taking himself away from his game for the time being. Rude also shook his head silently.

"Something's wrong," She thought out loud. "Tseng is _never_ late to work, much less calls in sick or just takes the day off. I'm worried."

"You're always worried about Tseng or something, or mooning over him or something sappy like that," Reno muttered and Elena glared daggers at him. She spun on her heel and slammed the door shut behind her. She practically marched down the hall, her cheeks slightly red, toward Tseng's office. Maybe he was back by now… Nope, the door was still closed and the lights out. She sighed, and turned to go back to her office when she saw him, walking with his heavy trench-coat folded over one arm. She instantly put a smile on her face and hurried to him.

"Sir, I have reports from-" He held up a hand and she stopped in her tracks.

"Get Reno and Rude and tell them I want all of you in my office, pronto." He swept on past her, graceful as ever. She sighed after him before she ran back to Reno and Rude's office fast as she could.

* * *

Ten minutes after Tseng had ordered all of the Turks into his office (more than half of that time was spent chasing Reno down) the three stood before Tseng, who was sitting serenely behind his desk. Once he deemed it was time to begin (which means before Reno's short attention span kicked in and had him trying to escape), he turned to the waiting Turks.

"The reason I have all of you here at this time is because we have an addition to our group," he began.

"Feh, I hate newbies," muttered Reno, which earned him a warning glare from Tseng.

"He's not a newbie, Reno. In fact, he's been on the Turks Roster longer than I have."

"Yeah yeah, big deal. Where the fuck has he been all this time then," asked Reno as he folded his arms over his chest, this half-bored, half-pouting look on his face.

"Right now, that information-" Tseng was cut off.

"Is classified."

The door shut with a small click, though no one had heard it open in the first place. He was about Rude's height, slim but not thin like Reno, with short silver-streaked black hair in a cut similar to Elena's. He removed his sunglasses and folded them neatly before putting them in his coat pocket to look at the three standing Turks with gold eyes that seemed to shine with the ever-present mako glow. His smile didn't reach those cold eyes.

He slowly made his way to one of the chairs in Tseng's office, a pronounced limp in his walk spoke of an injury yet healed or an old one than didn't heal properly. He leaned on a polished ebony cane worked with silver designs.

"So who the fuck are you," Reno asked, glaring at the man.

"Rucien," he replied, turning his cool gaze onto Reno, who shivered and looked away.

"I've been called back to headquarters since certain… circumstances deemed that my mission be cancelled or put on hold for the time being." They all lapsed into an eerie silence.

Reno began to fidget nervously, almost hopping from one foot to the other by now. He kept throwing glances to the door and his two partners, as if weighing the odds of him being able to reach the door before the other two Turks could tackle him. Obviously, the jump for the door won.

He was off in the blink of an eye, lunging for the door with all his strength and speed. Elena and Rude must have been expecting him to do so, for they reacted with lighten-fast reflexes. They grabbed at him, hoping to catch an arm or leg or his navy coat, but Reno determined not to get caught today. He slipped through their grasp with a practiced ease. In less than ten second or so, he was out the door and halfway down the hallway with Rude giving chase.

"I'm so sorry sir," Elena quickly apologized. "We'll go chase him down."

"Don't worry about it. We all knew it was a matter of time before he'd do it anyways. Just go get him under control and go back to work," Tseng replied, pulling a folder from the mountain that had accumulated over the past day or two. After a hasty "Yessir!", Elena was running off after Reno as well, still clutching her folders to her chest in a death grip.

* * *

Tseng was well used to the antics of the other Turks by now. He didn't so much as give any hint of surprise at what had happened. And strangely, neither did Rucien.

"I apologize for Reno's behavior. We're still working on him," Tseng told him, stoically setting about his daily ritual of paperwork.

"Quite alright," Rucien chuckled "Things have gotten quite a bit livelier since I've been gone."

"Oh, indeed they have… you wouldn't believe half of the crap Reno has gotten away with…"

"Have things become so slack in the Turks department? I thought we were supposed to be some kind of elite group… but I guess all that funding is going to Soldier now, huh?"

"Basically. It's only the four of us, five now counting you. But when it boils down to it, our whole department is still more intelligent than all of those Soldier idiots, Reno included."

They both laughed at the lame joke, then fell into silence. Tseng finished his first report then pulled out another. Apparently it was one of the few that Reno wrote; considering how everything was scribbled in at least twenty different colors of crayons complete with random doodles in the margins it could be no one else's but Reno's. Tseng sighed and began to try and decipher the chicken-scratch handwriting.

"So what all happened to bring you back, I haven't had time to get many of the details yet," he said, not looking up at Rucien from the report.

"Talla died." Tseng looked up, but before Rucien continued before he could say anything.

"The little village in the mountains had kept sending complaints about the mako reactor and a rise in monster populations. We were sent there with a few other soldiers to keep the place safe. ShinRa really couldn't afford to ignore the place, not only did they mine over fifty percent of the mythril that ShinRa uses by they also threatened to tear down the reactor if nothing was done. I never knew why Talla and I were chosen to be stationed there, but back then we never questioned our orders. Apparently there was leak in the reactor, and the usual monsters were feeding on the mako. The mutations were quite hellish, I was amazed that village had lived long enough for us to get there,"

"I've heard Hojo has been experimenting with the effects of what large amounts of mako does to different species," Tseng commented, then let Rucien continue.

"After we got there we fixed the reactor and killed off the worst of the monsters. Headquarters sent us orders to stay put for the time being, to make sure the reactor didn't begin to leak again, so we all stayed put. After so long, I guess they just forgot about us. No recall orders came, but they didn't forget us in the accounting offices. We still kept getting our paychecks though we were doing practically nothing."

"At least you were still getting paid," Tseng told him, grinning.

"I'm quite the rich man because of it now. There wasn't anything to spend money on back there, it was so boring." Rucien laughed.

"I can only imagine."

"Anyways," Rucien continued, "we sent in requests for orders to come back or be stationed somewhere else, but there either never made it here or were lost or overlooked. We were there for almost ten years. Everything seemed nice and dandy and we had no problems with the reactor after we fixed it that first time." He sighed and his eyes looked distant.

"Fine that is, till four days ago. Something attacked the village, none of us that lived got a good look at it. It killed off three of my five soldiers and around ten other villagers, though twenty others were missing and couldn't be found anywhere. Talla was the only one to live through its attack, but her wounds were so bad she couldn't stay conscious for more than a few minutes. I took the only truck in the village and made for Kalm, sending emergency signals on my radio to have a chopper waiting for me to get Talla back to HQ for medical treatment. When I got to Kalm they indeed did have a chopper waiting, but it was too late. Talla had died a few hours before getting there."

"I'm sorry to heard that she died," Tseng said. "We sent her down to the labs to see if we can tell what attacked her. Afterwards we will giver her a proper burial. Does she have any relatives that we need to notify?"

"No," Rucien shook his head. "She'd been alone for quite some time." Tseng nodded, and looked for a form in one of his drawers.

"Why don't you go on home for the day, get some rest? You've earned it, and I can bet you need it. Come back in tomorrow and we'll get the formal reports filed to the higher-ups."

"Thank you," Rucien said, bowing slightly before limping out. Tseng finally found the form he was looking for, a funeral arrangement form. Turks always looked after their own. Always.

Chapter 1: End.

* * *

More to come soon, I'm on break so I have more free time to write. 

Also, sylverskyz's Turks fics have been a point of inspiration for this story, I love her stuff Go look it up and read it, it's good

As always, reviews are welcome and greatly appreciated! I luv you guys!


	2. Normality

**Looking After Their Own**

By: Asellas

Disclaimer/Notes: I do't own anything FF7 related, I only wish I did. I do, however, own Rucien and Talla. They are characters spwaned by my mind in the wee early hours of the morning when I should be sleeping... Also, due to I've upped the rating for violence and coarser language. God I love Reno ;)

So, here we have chapter 2!

* * *

It seemed like a nice, normal, cold as fuck day. Reno's teeth were chattering by the time he had made it to Headquarters, and he was shivering violently by the time he stepped into the office. Damn weather and its sudden drastic temperature changes. All of the rain that had fallen the previous day had frozen overnight, making Midgar a giant, gleaming, frozen-over hellhole in the cold morning sunlight. Reno sneezed a couple of times while trying to hang his coat on the coat rack.

Reno hated it. Hated it _bad_.

A light chuckling from the direction of one of the other desks in the room caught his attention. Reno looked over to see that asshole from yesterday, Ruben… Richard… Rufus… no… Well whatever the hell his name was, he was now sitting behind the desk opposite Reno. Reno glared daggers at him and then tried his best to ignore the guy as he sat down at his own desk and began his usual routine.

Of course, that only lasted five minutes (and two pencils in the ceiling) long.

Reno couldn't take it. He _had_ to do something to the guy. Hit him, poke him, throw stuff at him, anything! He was just sitting there, idly messing around with his computer, looking rather bored. Reno looked about his desk for something to use as ammunition, but to no avail. The others had made sure to remove any paperclips, staplers and staples, paperweights, rubber bands, or anything that could be made into cubicle warfare by Reno. He gave up his useless search (of course the multitude of pencils he had never occurred to him at that moment) and decided that he'd just go verbally assault the guy. Hey, it worked sometimes.

He'd gotten up and marched over to stand in front of the guy's desk, an ugly look plastered on his face.

"The hell are you doin' here, yo?" he spat, giving the guy his best glare. The man just calmly looked up at him, blinked once or twice, then smiled at Reno.

"Lets see, last time I checked… I work here. Tseng assigned me this desk," he replied.

"And when did Tseng do that," Reno demanded.

"This morning when I came in. You missed it; you came in an hour late."

Reno was beginning to get bored of this.

"Well, whatever your name is, I don't like you," Reno announced, puffing up his chest and looking like a complete idiot. The guy had gone back too looking at his computer screen.

"Indeed, I can tell. And by the way, just for the record, my name is Rucien."

Reno just stood there for a few moments, deflated. He bent and tried to look at Rucien's computer screen.

"Hey, whatcha doin' on there," he asked, curious.

"Solitaire."

"What, these things got games on them!"

"A few."

"Awesome!" Reno bounded back to his desk to play with the games on his now useful (and noticed) computer. Rude looked up from writing his reports.

"Why do we always hand write these reports if we have computers," he asked.

"Because they hate us and want us to hand-write everything since they know we hate doing it? I dunno, they just always have wanted hand-written reports," Rucien commented, clicking away with the computer mouse. Eventually he was bored of solitaire and got up from his desk.

"I'm going for coffee, anybody want some," he asked.

"The coffee here is shit. No caffeine what-so-ever," Reno grumbled.

"Yeah, Reno's right, for once," Rude commented.

"Heh, that is easily remedied," Rucien told them as he pulled a package from a drawer in his desk. "You just have to bring your own." Reno and Rude both stared at him, mouths agape. Rucien limped out the room, door closing quietly behind him.

A few minutes later Rucien limped back into the room as fast as he could, closing the door and as quickly as his lame leg could manage dived for cover under his desk, stolen coffee maker cradled under his left arm. And it wasn't a second too soon, the door banged open and a group of very disgruntled office workers crowded in.

"Ok, where is he! Where are you hiding him at," the leader of the mob nearly shrieked, grabbing Reno by the front of his shirt.

"The _hell_! What are you talking about you crazed jackass," Reno asked, and gave the office worker a death glare to remind him just who he was manhandling. The guy must have snapped out of his frenzy when he heard Rude cracking his knuckles.

"Oh, well… you see, a guy in a Turks uniform came and took our coffee maker… but since I don't see him… I'll just be… uh…. leaving now…" And he bolted out the door.

After a minute passed, Rucien poked his head over the desktop.

"Are they gone yet?"

"Yeah, they're gone," Reno told him.

With a sigh of relief Rucien pulled himself into his swivel chair and set the stolen coffee maker on the desk. He plugged it in, filled it with water from a bottle, spooned in some ground coffee from his stash, and set it to brew. A few minutes later the three Turks were enjoying nice hot cups of coffee. Reno didn't care what it tasted like, it was caffeinated.

"I've changed my mind," Reno announced two cups of the wonderful dark brew later, "I like you after all, whatever the hell your name is!"

"It's Rucien," Rucien idly commented, back to playing solitaire.

* * *

The morgue was cold and always had this feeling of unease about it. Nobody liked being in the morgue, with the exception of Hojo. But Hojo wasn't exactly normal, so that wasn't much of a surprise.

A lone figure had been placed on the examination table and covered with a white sheet. Hojo padded softly over to the table and pulled the sheet down to reveal the head of the figure. She was beautiful, even in death. She had full lips, a well-shaped face with high cheekbones, and almond shaped eyes. Despite her age, no wrinkled marred her delicate skin. Her hair was a golden blond, long and wavy. _A pity she's dead,_ thought Hojo. He gestured to his attendant.

"Make a full examination report. We'll perform the autopsy tomorrow," he told his attendant, a young, if not so pretty as the dead lady on the table, woman. Without waiting for an answer, Hojo left, for he wanted to look after his specimens in his lab. His attendant began scribbling on her notepad on a clipboard, looking over the body for a few moments before turning back to her notes.

She failed to notice the right hand of the dead Turk moving.

* * *

It was a normal mission. Go out, find this person, kill them and anyone who witnessed it, and come back. Don't get hurt, don't get killed, ShinRa has no such thing as workmen's comp. And don't get drunk on the job, don't ditch work to find a hooker, don't fall asleep in the car unless it's on the way back to HQ, and for God's sake have as little collateral damage as possible.

"They've modified the rules a bit since you've been gone," Rude informed him as he drove down the to the train station. Rucien, who was sitting in the backseat, was thumbing through the work ethic and guidelines book that ShinRa published for the Turks department.

"Let me guess," Rucien commented, reading through the extensive list of 'Things Not to Do When on the Job' in the Turks handbook. "It's because of Reno."

Rude grunted in reply. Reno was busy checking his electro-mag rod and wasn't paying the two of them any attention at all.

"Not allowed to tar and feather any targets… The hell!"

"Only because that one actually got away. He caused quite a problem for us for about a week. Tseng was having to kiss some major ass to keep Reno on the team after that one," Rude told him calmly. Rucien decided he's read enough of the handbook. It was beginning to scare him.

They got to the train station without incident, Reno was actually behaving for once. After a short train ride they departed in the Sector Seven and made their way to the Wall Market. The three made their way through the crowds to an unkept-looking bar that was off the main thoroughfare. Despite his limping and dependency on his cane, Rucien did not slow the trio down. The bar was dimly lit and few sat huddled about their drinks at unwashed tables. A lone bartender with one eye absently polished glasses with a grime-smudged rag, eyeing the trio but not saying anything to them as they headed out a back door and up a flight of rickety stairs to the rooms above. The door they wanted was the last at the end of the dark hallway.

They checked their weapons, making sure the safeties were off on their guns, even if Reno and Rude barely used the damn things. Reno clicked on his electro-mag rod, smiling at the buzzing and crackling noise it made. Rude pulled his fighting gloves tighter, while Rucien merely adjusted his tie. Rude lead the way to the door and went to the right of it while Reno took the left. Rucien held off behind Reno as backup. Rude Knocked on the wooden door with the back of his right hand and waited. A few seconds later the door opened and the drunken idiot who opened the door immediately had his face smashed by Rude's fist. No time to let the others inside run for weapons or an escape.

Rude and Reno rushed the room, fists and mag rod blazing. The first room they came to, a living room of sorts, held three men who were busy getting drunk. They were easy for the two Turks to dispatch, they could barely see clearly as is. Reno made sure that they'd be out for awhile with a few extra jabs of from his beloved electro-mag rod. He giggled insanely as he went about it too. Rucien merely watched.

That is till the door, which had closed behind the Turks, opened again.

Rude was on the far side of the room, near the hallway to the single bedroom. Reno was across the room over the unconscious bodies of the drunken goons. Rucien was the only one near enough to the door to respond.

In the blink of an eye, in a motion so fast not even the newcomer, who carried a brown bag of even more alcohol, had time to move, much less see it. With the slightest of movements Rucien has separated his cane into two halves, one the long ebony cane, the other with the silver hilt a long, thin sword. The ring it made as it cleared its sheath was beautiful and deadly. But the newcomer didn't fall to pieces or explode in a fountain of blood as most would assume, Rucien had only hit him with the flat of the blade hard enough to knock the poor man out. As he fell to the floor, Rucien plucked the brown bag from his limp grasp before it could be smashed underneath him. He opened it up and pulled out a bottle of good whisky.

"Ahh, nice. The spoils of war are good this time," he commented idly.

Rude had emerged from the back room by now, dragging behind him by the hair a bleary-eyed man who was just barely out of his teen years. It looked as though Rude had already given him a rude awakening, no pun intended, with his fists judging on the blood streaming from his nose and the bruises starting to puff up his face.

"So that's him," Reno asked, moving closer to their target.

"Found him hiding in the closet, the wimp." Reno laughed at that, and hit the guy across the face with his mag rod.

"Not so big and bad after all are ya, ya punk," he said, hitting him again for good measure. Rucien limped over, setting his bottle of whisky on the table before venturing over.

"So, our orders were to just dispatch him, correct," he asked mildly. Rude nodded in reply. Rucien gave the condemned man a smile, one that did not reach his cold eyes. The guy was decidedly nervous, well, more like scared shitless. His mouth worked to say something, but no sounds made it past the lump in his throat. He looked about wildly for his friends, but being unable to see them his mind only thought of the worst; they were probably dead or run off by now.

"The… The fuck man! You can't just barge in and kill people," he finally managed, looking to the calm man in the navy suit before him for any help at all. He seemed the most sensible of the three, compared to the silent juggernaut that pulled him from his hiding place and the crazed redhead who was caressing a metal nightstick and looking near-rabid.

"Au contraire, we can do as we please," the calm man told him, smiling still. With a slight nod to his partner who held him in place, he was let go and he fell to his knees. He looked up only to hear a ring and see a flash of silver before his vision went black. He sat upright for a moment, eyes dilated and mouth agape but he made no more sounds. He toppled forward, his head rolling toward Rucien's feet and blood gushed from his open neck.

"Did Tseng mention any souvenirs," he asked, kicking at the head lightly. Rude shook his head, and Reno has wandered off to pick anything of value off the remaining unconscious men.

"Then our job here is done. Time to report back to HQ." Rucien pulled out his cell phone to call back in to the office just as it rang. He lifted his eyebrows and looked at Rude, who shrugged back, before answering. It was Tseng.

"Sir, we just finished here and were about to report in before heading back to HQ," Rucien explained, giving him a few small the details of the mission.

"Good, I need you three back here immediately, something has happened," came Tseng's static-laced reply. The volume was loud enough so that the other two Turks could hear it in the dead silence of the room. The both looked to Rucien.

"What's happened sir?"

"We don't know many details yet, but we do know this: Talla's body is missing. Come back to HQ, pronto." And with that, the call clicked off. Reno and Rude looked at him strangely; Tseng had not told them who Talla was. The info was still classified. Rucien felt a horrible sense of dread settle in the pit of his stomach. Whatever had happened, it didn't sound good and he just knew it wasn't going to get any better.

"We should get back to HQ now," he said, his voice strained as he tried to keep the emotions welling up inside from bursting out. He slipped his phone back into his coat pocket and limped towards the door, eager to be gone. Rude and Reno followed, but not before Reno snagged the bottle of whisky Rucien has abandoned.

* * *

More to come, my little mind is full of ideas now ;3 Hehe. Let's hope my attention span holds out!

As always, reviews are greatly appreciated!


	3. Lost

**Looking After Their Own **

By: Asellas

Notes/Disclaimers: I don't own anything FF7 related. I only wish I did. I do, however, own Rucien and Talla. They are characters spawned from my mind in the wee early hours of the morning when I should be sleeping...

Rated for rough language and violence.

* * *

As his luck would have it, he tripped down the staircase in his rush to leave. In his haste he had forgotten that his lame right leg wouldn't put up to moving as fast as he'd want it to, and it had buckled under him not even three stairs down. He tumbled his way down the whole flight of stairs, banging every part on his body on the ways down, to land unceremoniously in the doorway. The whole bar stared at him, his pristine navy suit covered in dust, grime, and all around nastiness that covered the stairs. But he took no time in picking himself up, pulling out his cane from under him and limping for the door, not even worrying to wait for the other two to ask if he was ok, was he hurt, or to slow the fuck down. All eyes were upon him, all movement stopped besides him and his two companions rushing for the door out. Blood dripped from his nose and from his now-split bottom lip, from multiple cuts on his head and hands, many of which had long nasty splinters stabbing into his flesh. But he didn't care. Rucien kept up his pace till they were way out of the Wall Market. In a gloomy, debris-ridden ally he stopped to catch his breath and wipe the blood from his face. 

"Dude, you should really calm down. You're in no condition to be running around like that. Hell, I can't take falls like you did and keep running afterwards, yo," Reno told him. Rucien glared at him, but the effect was spoiled when he starting coughing, the effort bending him double. He brought his hand from him mouth, it was speckled with blood.

"I think I broke something," he said. Reno rolled his eyes. Rucien straightened up and turned to continue his rush back to HQ, but he was now looking straight into the mouth of a cannon. _A cannon, out here like this…What the hell is going on?_ he wondered.

Luckily, Reno and Rude were being more attentive than he was. Rude pulled Rucien back by his right shoulder, while Reno was already bounding past and laying a deathblow on the odd looking house with the cannon that he had been facing. He noticed it had feet.

The thing was down and out in one swift hit from Reno, who had scrounged up a measly 250 gil and a potion from the dead thing. Rucien just stared at it, unable to say a thing.

"A hell house," Reno informed him as he pocketed his earnings. Rucien just blinked, then decided it wasn't worth saying anything. He brushed his hair back and began limping his way back to HQ again.

* * *

Tseng was used to seeing at least one Turk come back to HQ caked in grime, blood, and requiring an overnight stay in the hospital. He never though it would be Rucien to come back looking as if he has lost a fistfight with Rude. If he was surprised, he didn't show it in the least. 

"We aren't sure yet why it happened, or who really did it. It'll be another day at least till we've got some hints from our investigation," Tseng told the older Turk. "In the meantime, why don't you go let the medical staff take a look at you and go home and rest," he suggested. _You're dripping blood on my expensive carpet._ But he didn't dare say that last thought.

Rucien was just shaking his head in disbelief. Tseng knew that Rucien had had feelings for Talla. Her dying was one blow to him, and now the disappearance of her body was another. He felt sorry for the man, he truly did.

"Elena, please take him by the medics," he asked her. He wasn't sure Rucien had heard him. "And make sure he gets home alright. I don't know what he'll do if left alone. He's no Reno so it shouldn't be too hard."

"Yes sir," Elena nodded. She understood why Tseng would ask this of her. They'd both seen Turks members half dead or near mad with grief over one thing or other. Some were self-destructive, other destructive of everything around them. Someone had to keep watch over them, make sure they didn't do too much damage to themselves. Now, that someone was Elena. She was gentle and patient, unlike Rude and Reno. She'd see him home safely.

* * *

But of course, things never went smoothly. 

They arrived at the hospital in short order. Elena admired how Rucien could keep going in his condition. She had learned that even if they looked fine on the outside, then usually something on the inside was broken. She didn't want to even think about what all Rucien had managed to break.

The receptionist at the desk sent them straight to the emergency room, and the minute they got there a doctor came over to see Rucien immediately. If any of the other patients who had been waiting for awhile for a doctor were angered at being ignored like this, they didn't voice it. Turks had priority over anyone else, save President ShinRa and the other bosses. They were led to a small examination room, and the doctor took some x-rays and looked over Rucien's battered body. Rucien had started coughing again, worse now. The doctor looked a bit concerned over his coughing up blood, and a few seconds later Rucien was out, eyes rolled into the back of his head. Elena grabbed his cane before it could fall to the floor and clutched it to her chest as if for dear life and did her best to not squeal in panic. Moments later Rucien was being wheeled to surgery.

"Three broken ribs, a punctured lung, damage to your right hip, twisted left ankle, seven stitches to close a gash on your head, a split lip, and multiple bruises and cuts riddled with splinters," the doctor told them. Rucien was lying on a medical bed in the ER, despite his many protests that he did not have to lie down, and Elena was sitting in a chair beside him.

"You've beaten Reno's record, congratulations. I don't think I've ever seen anyone here with as many injuries and so determined that they were perfectly fine and wanted to leave as you, with the exception of Reno."

"I'm not going to stay overnight, I'm perfectly capable of getting up and walking out on my own. I don't need to be babysat in a hospital bed," Rucien growled, his patience having given out quite awhile ago. Elena had given up protesting, he wouldn't listen at all anymore.

"We need to monitor you to make sure your lung doesn't collapse. You need to stay stationary so your body can heal itself properly. You'll have to stay for at least two days, even if we have to chain you to that bed. We're pretty good at it now, Reno certainly does hate hospital stays," the doctor told him.

"For fuck's sake," Rucien cursed, sighing and falling back into the pillows. "Fine, I'm staying. Happy now?" The doctor nodded and left, promising a nurse will be in to check on him again soon. Rucien rolled his eyes and stared at the ceiling.

"If you want I'll say here with you to keep you company," Elena offered.

"No, no. It's fine, I don't want to keep you from work any longer than I have to," he told her, sifting a hand through his tangled hair. He sighed again. It was going to be a long, boring two days, he just knew it.

* * *

Once again, it was Reno and Rude they were waiting on. Reno had bolted from the office the minute Elena had returned, with orders for them to assemble immediately in Tseng's office. Rude was now chasing him. It was a normal day in the Turks department.

Tseng and Elena had been waiting for about ten minutes when the office door finally opened, admitting Rude who was dragging a screeching, flailing Reno by the hair behind him. Once the door closed Elena stood in front of it, barring Reno's only escape route.

"OW OW OW OW OW! MY HAIR! MY FUCKING HAIR! LET GO MY HAIR YOU FUCKING BASTARD! OWWWwwwww," screeched Reno, clawing blindly at Rude's back. Rude finally let go, letting Reno fall unceremoniously to the ground. He gave Rude his best death glare, but the bigger man showed no notice of it. He just rolled his eyes behind his shades.

Tseng cleared his throat, getting the attention of the three Turks. Reno, finally noticing just how serious Tseng looked, got up from the floor and sulked next to Rude. Elena decided that Reno wouldn't bolt anymore and moved to stand at attention on the other side of Reno. At least this way, with Reno between her and Rude, they could grab him before he could go for the door again.

"The information that I am going to tell you is not to be told to anyone outside this office, it is still classified," he told them.

"But sir, if the information is still classified won't you get in trouble for telling us about it," Elena asked, concerned.

"That's only if you go tell everyone and Heidegger finds out," Reno told her. Elena blushed and kept her mouth shut.

"Anyways," Tseng went on, "I think it'd be better if you knew this. It has to do with Rucien, and the disappearance of a body from the morgue. Listen carefully, I don't want to repeat myself…"

* * *

She haunted his dreams, his morphine-induced euphoria that was wakefulness. Each time, the same thing. Each time, the same outcome. Each time, he felt a part of himself wither and die. She beckoned him with her tantalizing smiles, her bright green eyes, skin smooth and colorful, untouched by the years. He ran after her, racing after the mane of golden blonde hair that flew after her. Each time, the minute he caught up she crumpled in his grasp, blood blossoming from her chest. Each time, he looked into her eyes, now colorless and dead.

He could never stay conscious long enough to dispel that feeling of dread, of helplessness and hopelessness. He was lost in fever dreams, unable to come back to reality. Maybe he was dying. He hoped he was dying. Life without her was dull and lifeless. It wasn't worth living. In his dreams he begged whatever gods that were out there to let him go, let him be with Talla forever. Let him finally, truly die. But the dreams continued, the images of her haunting his every thought.

Sometimes he thought he could hear voices, people trying to talk to him. He couldn't ever make sense of the words. Sometimes he could just barely make out the presence of someone there, sitting by him, watching over him. He wanted to say something, scream for them to help him, to pull him from this miserable excuse of living. But he was trapped, unable to move, unable to call for help, in his own mind. No way out, no escape.

* * *

"Behave yourself, Reno!" Elena chided him as the three Turks walked down the pristine white halls of the hospital. "If you don't calm down and behave we'll lock you up somewhere in here for the night. I'm sure the doctors can find some shots to give you."

"Geez, you didn't have to go that far, yo," Reno told her, flinching at the mere though of shots. He couldn't remember why he was even tagging along to go visit Rucien in the hospital. Maybe it was because Rude was going. Where Rude went, half the time Reno followed. Simple logic.

Elena chatted with a nurse who had left Rucien's room. Apparently, his condition had worsened. He'd gone unconscious and had been running a high fever for the past few days, and had yet to wake up. The nurse explained it was probably from shock, but otherwise he was healing fine. Inside the hospital room Elena arranged some fresh flowers in a vase that she had brought with her, bought from a flower-girl down in the slums. The color helped dull the brightness of the unending sea of white that was the hospital. They didn't stay long, just looked in on him before going out. Friday night was bar night, or rather 'let's get as drunk as we can before Monday' night. Elena felt a little bad for going out with Reno and Rude while Rucien was still like this, for leaving him alone. But Reno owed her and Rude free drinks, and she was not about to give up free alcohol. Buying the flowers made her conscience feel a little better.

They passed Tseng leaving the offices at HQ, carrying a folder of reports that needed reviewing and commenting.

"Yo Boss, wanna go get smashed with us tonight? Beats doin paperwork, yo," Reno called to him, but Tseng shook his head.

"I've got too much work to do as is, I can't afford to waste time getting drunk right now," he replied coolly. Reno rolled his eyes and dragged Rude and Elena after him.

* * *

Tseng watched the hyperactive Turk drag away his partners, wishing he was still young and able to forget the paperwork and just party all evening. Though, back in the days they weren't as irresponsible. Back in the days they were the elites.

He sighed, running a hand through his long hair. No time for nostalgia tonight. He had work to do. He walked out to the parking garage and found his car; he was the last person to leave for the weekend. As he began to drive back to his apartment he had a sudden thought. He turned his car around and headed back toward HQ.

* * *

At first it was a dull thumping in the base of his skull. Now it was a full blown headache that pounded in his temples so hard he thought his head had been cracked open. Maybe it had, he had no way of telling what had happened to him since everything went black.

As quick and sudden as the headache had come on, it was gone. It felt as if weights had been lifted from him. Breathing seemed somewhat easier, though he still couldn't take a deep breath without the pain from his damaged ribs and lung making him horribly dizzy. His eyes fluttered open, everything hazy and white. He blinked, squinting his eyes for everything to come into focus.

It was all white. Boring, dull, excruciatingly bright white.

He pushed himself up, wincing at the protests from his ribs, and looked around. A vase with a colorful arrangement of flowers sat on a table next to his folded up uniform. His cane rested against the wall. He looked around for a minute, and after determining that no one was nearby, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and decided now was his only chance to get away.

Tseng didn't know what gave him the idea to come see Rucien. Some kind of spur-of-the-moment thing that he must've caught from Reno most likely. Before he even realized it, he was walking down the bright halls to Rucien's room. What he saw when he got there somehow didn't surprise him. Maybe it was because he'd caught Reno doing the same thing quite a few times before.

Rucien had managed his way out of bed, leaning heavily on one of the railings while he jerked out IV lines and other cords and sensors attached to his body. Once that was accomplished he limped, or rather hopped, to the table and pulled his pants from the folded pile of cloths.

"We had them mended while you were unconscious," Tseng informed him, voice calm and collected. Rucien made no notice of his presence, just gave him a grunt and began pulling on his pants. It must have taken more effort than Rucien was willing to admit, but he only rested for a moment before pulling off the hospital gown and tossing it onto the bed. He pulled on his white button up shirt but didn't button it up. Stuffing his tie into a coat pocket and grabbing his shoes under one arm, cane in his other hand, he limped for the door.

"You look like a mess," Tseng told him, looking Rucien over.

"I feel fine, I'm leaving," Rucien said, shuffling past Tseng. Tseng sighed, yet he didn't do anything to stop him. There was no point to it; he's only protest and hurt himself further. He might as well just go along with it.

"I'll give you a ride back to your apartment," Tseng offered, and Rucien nodded his acceptance.

* * *

This one took longer to write than the others. My mind halfway died on me. More to come, I'm back in school so I won't have as much time to work on it as I'd like…

As always, reviews are greatly appreciated!


	4. Pain

**Looking After Their Own**

By: Asellas

Notes/Disclaimers: I don't own anything FF7 related. I only wish I did. I do, however, own Rucien and Talla. They are characters spawned from my mind in the wee early hours of the morning when I should be sleeping...

Rated for rough language and violence later on.

* * *

The pain kept him in bed for another three or four days. Most of the time he slept, dreaming his haunted dreams, waking drenched in sweat. He rarely moved, if only to drag himself to the bathroom. On the third night he fell asleep, but this time he had no dreams. Just quiet, blissful, sleep. It was calming, rejuvenating. It brought him back from the cliff edge. 

Only to have all the pain and loss come crushing down on him when he awoke in the morning.

He found he could walk easier, though he had to lean heavier on his cane than before his tumble down the staircase. He didn't bother checking the multitude of messages left for him on his phones, he didn't want to talk to anyone. He limped his way to the shower, shucked himself of his clothing, and climbed into the torrent of scalding hot water he'd started. He leaned against the wall, letting his head fall back and the hot water play over him. He didn't know how long it was that he stayed in except for the fact that the water had now turned cold. It woke him up again and he grudgingly shut off the water, shaking his head to clear it.

He felt so heavy, the weights of his dreams and memories dragging him down further and further. He didn't know how to keep going. He just didn't know what to do.

As if in a daze he dried himself off and threw on some fresh clothes. He grabbed his cane and limped out, not even bothering to lock his apartment when he left. He didn't remember where all he went, he seemed to snap out of it at one point and found himself in the Wall Market again. The thought of someone recognizing him never occurred to him. He just limped his way to a small convenience store and got himself a bunch of big bottles of whiskey. He looked across the counter as the bored-looking clerk rang up the items, and saw a display of cigarette boxes.

_Hell, why not? She's not here to help you keep your promises anymore,_ he thought to himself, and bought packs of the cancer sticks. He hadn't smoked in years, Talla made him quit because she found it disgusting and the smell of burning nicotine and tobacco nauseated her. But she wasn't here now, and he needed that feeling of calmness the nicotine gave him, how it seemed to just burn everything away when he inhaled it. He headed back for his apartment and the lady at the front desk at his building greeted him as he came in, and called to him for his attention.

"Sir, a person from ShinRa HQ left this here for you. He said it was your medicine for your injuries," she politely informed him, holding out a white bag with bottles of pills inside. He mumbled a reply and took it from her, not caring or knowing what exactly he said to her. It was still midday, and he just wanted to go back to his apartment and start getting as drunk as he could.

* * *

Elena was worried. She'd been worried for the past two days. And it had started to spread, like some kind of disease. Tseng was worried now, and Rude was beginning to get a little concerned as well. Reno, on the other hand, was his good, old, obnoxious self.

_At least someone around here is still normal,_ thought Tseng as he finished up the last of the paperwork for the week. It was Friday again, and he was going to go drinking with his fellow Turks.

Elena had been trying to convince the others to go with her to look in on Rucien before they hit the bar. Tseng had finally succumbed to her pleas and was going with her. That morning Rude assured her that he would go to, if only to just shut her up. Reno threw a fit but eventually yelled that he'd go too, but only because Rude was going. Though Reno was now thinking of retracting his offer. Elena went about the office the rest of the day with a smug look on her face. Reno glared after the young woman whenever she passed by.

Finally, it was six o'clock, and the week was officially over by Turk standards. The Turks left together, walking down the cold, dark streets to the apartment building that Rucien lived in, laughing and joking around. It was odd how lively and jovial the group was, people gave them odd looks as they passed them down the sidewalks. But it was the weekend and they were all gonna go and get thoroughly smashed. Even Tseng. Which surprised the lot of them.

"I'm not as stuck-up and cold as you think I am. I'm human too, you know," he told them in his calm, serious voice. It set Reno to howling with laughter, even Rude chuckled quietly at it. They finally quieted down some as they crowded into the elevator in the apartment building, talking quietly as it sped to the fifteenth floor. With a musical tone to announce it had reached the floor they wanted, the four of them walked down the carpeted hallway in silence now, Tseng leading the way. They stopped at the room number that was Rucien's and Tseng knocked twice, loud enough that it'd be heard inside. They waited for a few minutes.

Nothing happened.

Tseng knocked again, louder this time. Still nothing. Rude pounded on the door with his big, heavy fists. And they finally got their answer.

It sounded like something had been thrown, hard, towards the door. And had shattered.

Tseng didn't like the looks of this. He reached for the door and opened it, surprised to find it unlocked. He pushed the door all the way open and walked in, making sure to steer clear of the shattered remains of the liquor bottle that had been thrown at the door. The place was in neat order still, looking as if it had all just been cleaned. But once he got to the living room he stopped in his tracks.

The room was neat enough, but on the low coffee table was a myriad of liquor bottles and cigarette packs, both empty and full ones. A bottle of pills was spilled across the glossy black surface, bottle pushed further off to the side of the table. An ashtray held the collections of countless cigarettes, smoked all the way down to the filters.

And there, in the midst of it all, slumped across the table with a lit cigarette in one hand, the other clutching an open bottle of alcohol, eyes glazed and looking into nothing, was Rucien.

Tseng could only just stare in disbelief at the wasted man across the room from him. He'd been his role model when he had first entered the Turks. The quiet, calm but jovial man who was probably one of the best Turks when he was in his prime. Now left to the fate that many down in the slums were left to; drowning himself in alcohol and poisoning himself with those cancer sticks. He heard Elena gasp behind him, and Reno mutter "Man, this shit's fucked up, yo." Rude was silent as always.

Tseng walked around the discarded liquor bottles to the coffee table, bent over, and hit Rucien in the face so hard he fell off the side, the liquor bottle and cigarette he was holding went flying in the opposite direction.

"Wuuha… whathu hell'sgoin on… huh," slurred Rucien, eyes unfocused but looking in Tseng's general direction. Tseng wasted no time pulling him off the floor by the front of his shirt and hitting him in the face again. He kept at it till blood fountained from Rucien's nose and he began to regain enough of his senses to try and push Tseng away from him. Tseng pushed him back to fall onto his leather couch, coughing and clutching his face in pain. Tseng was about to give Rucien a through upbraiding when his cell phone rang, and he turned away to answer it.

"Man, the hell were you trying to do to yourself," Reno asked Rucien as he bent over and picked up the dropped bottle of liquor and took a swig.

"What'sit look liketa you, huh?"

"Trying to kill yourself or something," Reno guessed, and, from the way Rucien rolled over on his back to stare at the ceiling, he guessed he'd hit the nail on the head.

"S'not worth it… not anymore…" Rucien mumbled, zoning out. Tseng clicked his phone shut and turned to his fellow Turks.

"Help me drag him down to the elevator, I'm going to take him to the hospital to recuperate and have him watched over. It's not a good idea to leave him like this alone," he informed them, and he grabbed Rucien's left arm and began to pull him upright. Rude took Rucien's other arm, and together they managed to get the drunk man upright.

* * *

"Stupidity and insanity don't go hand in hand. I might have the latter, but by no means am I stupid," he told them, tapping his fingers together wishing he had a cigarette. It didn't look like they were buying it, and he sighed. "Look at the damn reports those doctors made. I'm well enough to keep working though I have to go to therapy for at least another month."

"Yes, but how are we going to be sure that that won't happen again," Tseng asked him.

"I'm sure you've had my apartment thoroughly bugged so you will know if it even begins to look like that again. I mean, I was just really depressed, you know? So much shit kept piling up and I had to do something."

"So you tried to kill yourself?" Rucien's eyes narrowed at his boss.

"I didn't try to kill myself," He told Tseng quietly.

"Then what would you have called what that was that night," Tseng asked bluntly, leaning back in his chair.

"You know me well enough, I'm sure, to know that I don't do anything half-assed. If I intend to do something, it gets done and to the highest degree of precision as possible. Am I right," Rucien asked him, looking straight at Tseng. Tseng nodded in reply.

"Then," Rucien continued, "if I did indeed plan to kill myself, by all means, I wouldn't be sitting here right now."

Tseng sighed, he knew Rucien was right. The reports the doctors had given him from the month-long evaluation they did on Rucien while he was recuperating from his wounds had told him that Rucien did not in fact overdose on any medication. His behavior was normal enough, and there was little reason to keep him from the office anymore.

"Fine," Tseng gave in. "You're back to active duty. Though, you won't be sent on any missions by yourself, you'll be accompanied by another Turk at all times to watch you in case things start going… out of hand, again. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal."

"Good. Now go see if you can help Rude and Elena with the weekly reports. It's no use even trying to make Reno do them," Tseng told him, remembering his last venture into reading Reno's reports. The last one ended up being a hand-drawn comic of Tseng-zilla attacking Midgar done in crayons. Once Rucien left his office he opened one of his folders, pulling out the latest reports sent to him for review. He sighed, knowing it was going to be a long, grueling day of paperwork. As he quickly scanned over the first paper something caught his eye. He pulled the rest of the report out and began reading it more closely.

* * *

A streetlamp flickered in the distance; the crackling noise it made was loud enough to be heard over at the corner the woman was standing at. Though there were streetlamps positioned at regular intervals, the slums were always dark and dingy. No amount of light less true sunlight would brighten the place up, if that even.

The woman sighed. Business was slower than usual tonight, and it was well into the evening. She shifted in her red stiletto heels uncomfortably; no matter how long she'd worn the things after standing around for so long they made her feet ache. She looked around the street one last time before pulling the meager wad of gil from the front of her skimpy top where she'd stuffed it and counted it one last time before stuffing it back in place. There was no point in staying out any longer, she knew that she'd get no more customers tonight. Pulling her jacket around her shoulders and buttoning it up, she began to walk back towards sector six.

Two blocks down the streetlight she was under went out, casting the area into darkness. There was no one close enough to hear her screams.

* * *

Yeah, it's been awhile... my classes have been stressing me out to no end and I've gone and backlogged myself a few months worth of English papers to do in less than 2 weeks. So now I'm going to do those then I'll be back to working on my fics : ) 

As always, all reviews are greatly appreciated! Thanks!


	5. Horror

**Looking After Their Own**

By: Asellas

Notes/disclaimers: I don't own anything FF7 related, I only wish I did. I do, however, own Rucien and Talla. They are characters spawned from my mind in the wee early hours of the morning when I should be sleeping...

This chapter has violence, gore, and creepy-crawly things that have probably resulted in me playing way too much Half Life 2 and Resident Evil 4. So beware. I don't want anyone freaking out and having nightmares because of me /

* * *

Tseng looked closely at the monitor. The image was horribly blurry and pixilated, but he could just make out the shape of a body in a section the security recording. 

"As you can see, sir, this figure here," the chief security officer tapped the monitor near the top right corner, "is what you were looking for. Further analysis and detailed record checks indicate that lab assistant Samari Sasaki's I.D. card was used to exit the Headquarters via a small, coded security door in the back of the building."

"Why did it take so long to find this evidence," Tseng asked.

"Well, sir, that one door is used by the janitorial staff as it is the quickest route to the back of the building, and many other employees use it to avoid notice when slipping out for lunch breaks and such. Since it is a commonly trafficked exit, its surveillance tapes are quite long and it is tedious work to sift through everything for a specific person."

"Ahh." Tseng nodded. "Very well then, is that all you wished to inform me about today?"

"Actually, I have something interesting to show you." The officer rolled his chair to a filing cabinet in the corner of the room. He unlocked the top drawer with a key and pulled out a nondescript manila folder.

"I reviewed some security tapes from sectors nearby and found this," he pulled out an enlarged black and white photo from the folder, and slid it towards Tseng. The picture was somewhat clearer than the security tapes, but not by much.

"Look here," the officer pointed out, tapping just to the right of the center of the photo. Looking closer, Tseng noticed a body being pulled through a doorway by someone just out of range of the camera. The body had short, dark colored hair.

"That's Assistant Sasaki. I can tell that much. Have you searched the building and its premises?" The officer nodded.

"Yes sir, I conducted a full search myself with an entire SWAT crew, just in case. It was a day after I found the evidence in the surveillance camera, which was time stamped less than a day after the body of your dead Turk went missing. Sadly, the search turned up nothing. We have no leads this time," the officer told Tseng.

"Very well, if you find any more leads, tell me straightaway. I appreciate your help, officer." Tseng gave him a small nod and departed the security room for his office.

* * *

A paper plane darted through the air, and hit him in the head. He ignored it, and it fell to the side. A few moments later, another paper airplane poked him in his head before fall oh so lightly to the side as the one before it. He ignored it, and continued writing his share of the week's reports. 

A few moments later, yet another paper airplane came from across the office and poked him right in the forehead. It fell into the pile of the twenty-some-odd other paper airplanes on his desk. He set his pen down calmly, calmly, even though his hand was beginning to shake in rage, or was it just the urge to have a cigarette? He wasn't sure anymore.

Rucien looked up and glared at Reno, who suspiciously not looking towards him and seemingly trying to stick pencils into the ceiling. He kept glaring, and Reno stopped tossing pencils but didn't turn to look at him yet. The office grew very silent; they could even hear the ticking of the clock. Rucien pulled open a desk drawer, and as silent as he was Reno heard it. And turned to look over towards Rucien. Seconds later, a bright orange dart with a sucker on the end was stuck to the middle of Reno's forehead.

"Headshot," said Rucien, and smirked. Reno glared, and pulled open one of his own desk drawers.

"If its war you want, its war you get, bitch!"

With an eruption of sucker-darts, marshmallows, and rubber bands, the office wars began. It was a typical day in ShinRa Headquarters.

* * *

Rucien inhaled the last bit of smoke as the cigarette burned down to the filter, flicking the used up butt to the ground before grounding out the embers. He pulled his gun, a Browning Hi-Power, from his shoulder holster beneath his navy jacket. He checked the safety, magazine, and finally slid it back into its hiding place. Reno squatted on the curb nearby, fiddling with his mag rod. Rude and Elena both checked their own guns, and tightened their black gloves. The little intercoms in their ears fizzed static, and soon Tseng's crackly voice filtered through. 

"You know the drill, boys and girls. Keep it quiet, keep it in the designated area, and try and keep it as clean and quick as possible. Try and minimize any collateral damage, and if things get out of hand call for backup. I want you all back alive and in one piece. Tseng, out."

The four Turks began to advance on the old, abandoned looking building.

* * *

"_Security handed me this report less than an hour ago. We have a new lead in the case of the missing body," Tseng told the three, who were assembled before his desk. Rude, of course, was keeping Reno in a headlock to keep the younger man from running for the door._

"_Sir, should I go find Rucien and bring him back for the briefing," Elena asked, and Reno had finally stopped squirming._

"_Not yet," Tseng shook his head. "I have no idea how he'd take this news, so we're not going to inform him yet. For now we are going to tell him we're going after a terrorist unit. Until we are certain of his… mental state, I suggest we keep this information tightly guarded. No slip ups, understood," he looked pointedly at Reno, who indignantly rolled his eyes._

_

* * *

_Elena took point. Pulling out her handgun she slipped inside the doorway, making not one bit of noise. She gave the all clear a few seconds later, and Rude, Reno, and Rucien filed in. The first room was something like an old living room, but little was left of it but for an old couch in the center and dark, rotting drapes over the windows. To the left of the room was a staircase, and Elena had already begun to gingerly make her way to the top, careful of any stairs that would not support her and collapse.

"Rucien, you stay down here and guard the exit. If anyone comes through that door take them out, and alert us. I don't think you'd be able to make it back down the stairs with your leg if we needed to rush out," Elena said, and Rucien sent over his affirmative. He crouched at the wall lining the doorway they had come in, but where he could see the stairs if he was needed. He pulled out his gun, and began waiting.

* * *

"This place is a dump," Reno informed them, kicking at an old take-out carton. 

"Shut up, Reno, and stay focused on the mission," hissed Elena through their little radio. Reno rolled his eye and snorted, then went back to poking through one of the three rooms each Turk had taken to search. After finding nothing more than old junk and trash he sauntered back into the room they had started in. Rude was already waiting for him, gun pointed at the ceiling. The two exchanged nods as Elena emerged from the last room, shaking her head in the 'No, I didn't find anything either' sign. She looked to the door at the far end of the room, and nodded to Rude. Gun in hand, he walked silently over to it and gently grasped the handle. He slowly turned the knob, but it caught midway.

_Locked_, he mouthed at Elena, who took a deep breath and walked to stand to the other side of the door.

"Break it down," she whispered, and Rude gave another nod. She looked back to Reno and motioned him over with a jerk of her head, and he took the position behind Rude. Rude stepped back and kicked the door down, SWAT style. They burst into the final room with guns at the ready. What they found on the other side made Elena scream.

* * *

"What? Is everything alright," Rucien asked into his radio. He tried to look up the stairs into the room beyond, with no luck. 

No response came over the radio.

He licked his lips and flicked off the safety of his Browning Hi-Power. He cocked it back, setting a bullet into the chamber. Making one last glance at the exit door, he began to ascend the staircase fast as he could manage.

* * *

The thing in the far corner of the room used to be lab assistant Samari Sasaki, and for all practical purposes her head still looked like her, for the most part. The same could not be said for what was below the neck. 

Her skin from mid-neck had turned a dark red color, and looked as if it had begun to crack and peel away. Her arms were elongated, the bones themselves seeming to have swelled to twice their size in her hands. Two other arm-like appendages jutted out from her sides, tearing through the remnants of her only garment, her lab coat. Her legs and feet took up the same appearance as her arms and hands. Her face, while still a normal fleshy color, seemed to have been stretched thin to accommodate a set of massive jaws and an extremely long tongue. To top the whole, gruesome package off, blood was smeared about her whole body. Rude identified that it was from the remains of something that he would be his entire month's paycheck had been human and alive maybe an hour ago.

Elena did her best not to scream again, having already gotten the… that _thing's_ attention. Despite her best attempts, a whimper escaped her clenched teeth.

And then it stated _laughing_.

It was a weird sound, starting off as some kind of gurgling sound deep in its throat before sounding like some insane man's cackling. Elena took a step backwards.

The thing took a step forwards.

Reno had gone pale, and couldn't take his eyes off the thing, as if mesmerized. Rude shook his head, trying to clear it of the fear starting to cloud his thoughts. And then it spoke.

"Youu aree too laaaate, humanssss. Missssstresssss is gone, ouuut makingssss more of usssss, he he he he he!" It licked its lips and took another step forward. Toward the three Turks.

A shot rang out, missing its intended target and shattering a window to the left of the monster.

"Shoot it in the head, and for God sakes don't let it touch you," yelled out Rucien, who began shooting in a two-handed stance for better aim. Elena, Reno, and Rude seemed to snap out of it, and began shooting at it as well. The monster gave a bone-chilling shriek and lunged forward towards them, but with a shot to the kneecap from Rude it tumbled to the floor a few feet away from them. After it took four more slugs its head exploded in a fountain of gore. They continued shooting at the now lifeless body till their guns each clicked empty.

"We need to burn what's left, and soon. If the blood from that thing gets into another animal or human, it'll manifest like that," Rucien informed the other three, looking pale and horribly shaken.

"You've seen this before," asked Rude. Rucien nodded, swallowing hard.

"Back at the mines I was last stationed at, a monster just like this had attacked the village there. It took out the men stationed at the reactor first, and we though they were dead. We found out otherwise when they attacked an outpost closer to the village. They assimilate whatever gets their blood in its system. We managed to wipe them all out before we left…" he trailed off.

"Then how the hell is it in Midgar now, yo," asked Reno, starting to recover from his own shock. Rude had clicked his radio to Tseng's frequency and was requesting a cleanup detail. Elena looked ready to sick up.

"Tell him," Rucien's breathing was short and shakey, "tell him napalm would be best. Take down the whole building if you must. We have a bit of a crisis on our hands." Rude nodded, relayed the message, and they waited for the cleanup crew.

Chapter 5: End.

* * *

I apologize for the wait, I had decided to wait till the night before all 8 of my english papers were due to actually do them and by some miracle of God I got them all done (each was at least 3 typed pages, with one being a 12-page research paper) and finished the semester with a B (for 'bullshit' XD) average! But its summer and I don't move out till mid August and for the while am jobless, so I have plenty of time to write (when the inspiration hits of course!). 

As always, reviews, comments, suggestions and even flames are welcome and greatly appreciated (or in the case of flames laughed at)!

Oh, and I've been cross-posting this fic to my deviantART gallery. Its URL is http/korva-chan. if anyone would like to take a looksee through it :)


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